Move over Mr. Darcy?

For years, whenever anyone would mention Colin Firth, I would instantly conjure up images of him as Mr. Darcy, in the wonderful BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. This is my perfect version of P&P, and Colin Firth is my image of Mr. Darcy.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Colin Firth in Love Actually, didn’t mind him in Mama Mia, and enjoyed him in Bridget Jones. But I thought nothing would ever beat his performance in P&P. That is, until this past week, when I watched The King’s Speech.

Oh my! I don’t do movie reviews, but I just loved this one. Everything about it, from the cast, to the costumes, to the settings, were just spectacular. Until I saw The King’s Speech, I knew next to nothing about King George VI. It’s a sign of how much this movie reached me, that I’ve spent an incredible amount of time on the web since seeing the movie doing research on King George VI.

Colin Firth is always going to be my perfect Mr. Darcy, but for right now, and I suspect for some time into the future, when someone mentions Colin Firth, I will now thing of his marvelous performance as King George VI, before I think of Mr. Darcy.

Have you seen The King’s Speech? If so, what did you think? And can you recommend any good books — fiction or non-fiction — that cover this period of history?

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13 thoughts on “Move over Mr. Darcy?”

Yes, LinnieGayl, I did see “The King’s Speech.” My daughter and I went on Christmas Day night. What a great movie, so I totally agree with you. Firth did a good job, as well as everyone else in it. I did not see Jennifer Ehle until one of the posters here mentioned that she was in the film as the wife of the Australian speech “therapist.” Colin Firth was great as Mr Darcy because he is that good of an actor. As you said, he’s been in quite a few movies since that time. This has definitely been one of the stronger ones.

Completely agree LinnieGayl. My daughter and I saw the movie while she was home for break, and both of us think it is the best movie we’ve seen in a very long time. Firth’s performance was a gem, once again reminding us how very good he can be. The audience actually broke into applause at the end of the movie…that’s the first time I’ve ever been to a movie where that happened.

My husband and our three sons saw “The King’s Speech” last night and totally agree with everyone’s positive comments. I had always loved Colin Firth in P&P but thought of him as an actor of somewhat limited range. However, after seeing him in “A Single Man” last year, and now this, I’ve changed my mind. He can express so much depth of emotion with his eyes and his body language. For example, the way his shoulders sag in the scene where he comes home to Elizabeth and Margaret and instead of running to be hugged they curtsy — you can just see the weight of the crown settling on him at that moment. Or the scene in ASM where he learns that his lover has died, and you watch his face go from happiness to heartbreak — loved the film and loved him in it.

If anyone is interested, there are interviews with Firth on the Charlie Rose show (available on the show’s website) where he talks about both roles.

I’ve been wanting to see this movie ever since I saw the trailer! I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t even know who reigned during WWII until I looked the movie up online.

Did you know there’s a related book with the same title? I don’t know of any other books in that period, but I highly recommend the TV mystery series Foyle’s War about a British police detective unable to serve in the military and stuck dealing with home front problems. It gives a really good picture of what life was like then. Plus, he has a spunky, girl sidekick! He doesn’t drive and gets assigned a female driver because of manpower shortages.

Here’s a blurb from Amazon: “Combining uncompromising historical accuracy with compelling mysteries, this award-winning British series opens a unique window on a significant time and place. Michael Kitchen (Out of Africa) stars as the laconic Christopher Foyle, detective chief superintendent in the English town of Hastings. As World War II ravages the social fabric of this once quiet coastal community, Foyle investigates crimes the conflict has fostered on the home front. The 19 mysteries in this collection follow the course of the war from 1940 to 1945.”

Terrific performance by Colin Firth. Actually it was an incredible performance and he deserves at least an Oscar nomination for best actor. I hope he gets nominated and then I hope he wins the award too.

When I saw the movie, no one left afterward. They clapped and then watched the credits. I kept thinking that the therapist’s wife was familiar but didn’t realize who she was until I saw her name in the final credits.

I saw “The King’s Speech” over the holidays and loved it! Brilliant script and acting. It seemed so true to time and place and characters and yet at the same time so universal. And I loved the moment where Geoffrey Rush’s character introduced Colin Firth’ and Jennifer Ehle’ characters to each other :-).